What Would Lee Have Cost the Twins?

by Han Joelo on Dec 16, 2009 9:16 AM EST

I know it's water under the bridge, but this move by the Mariners is exactly what I was hoping the Twins would do. Well not exactly--I was hoping they would get Halladay. If he would have signed the same deal with the Twins would that have possibly worked?

Really though, I am just curious who the Twins could've given up to get Lee. I read up on the three prospects the Mariners surrendered, and here are my comps.

Aumont-Burnett. Aumont seems sexier and throws harder, but has durability and strikezone questions

Gillies(?)--Revere Real similar players; Gillies has a good arm apparently

The other guy--Bromberg Bromberg is better than the guy they gave up, but perhaps the other guy has more upside.

Anyway, would one year of Lee be worth Revere, Burnett, and Bromberg, and are those realistic comps?

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Well....

considering that Gomez is gone, so the Twins wouldn’t need the two to make happy.

It’s a large price to pay for one year. Of course, the Twins would have to offer arbitration, and they’d get draft picks…unless they really sucked this year and would trade him mid-season, but not sure what that return would be, ultimately.

For those three…I would salivate if I was the Phillies. Next year is the telling year for Bromberg AND Revere as they advance to higher play. Burnett might only pan out to be a dynamite reliever. The downside, I don’t picture any of the three starting the season in the majors in 2010. And probably only one of them in 2011.

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by rosterman on Dec 16, 2009 11:36 AM EST reply actions

I don't know, Burnett/Revere/Bromberg seems too high a price to me

Unless we want to either completely go for broke to win this year (World Series or bust), or we know that we could re-sign Lee for more years, I don’t see this as being worth it.

The draft picks if Lee turned down arbitration would be nice, but I tend to think all three of Burnett, Revere, and Bromberg have high potential, and you can never be sure whether a draft pick will have the same potential, or will actually pan out in the minors.

"So [Kouzmanoff]’s going to make decent monkey, but he’d be affordable." - Jesse

by what_would_gil_thorp_do on Dec 16, 2009 12:14 PM EST reply actions

I think Aumont is probably regarded more highly than Burnett

So I don’t think this is comparable. I would make that deal, though, if I were the Twins. Flags fly forever.

by Eric in Madison on Dec 16, 2009 2:12 PM EST reply actions

Glad

they didn’t, cuz i really don’t like renting players, and cuz are main focus right now should be to sign mauer. Besides idk if cliff lee will do as well in the AL as he did before. I honestly don’t know why the Phils traded him, but i guess…theres got to be a reason

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by Baby_K on Dec 16, 2009 3:16 PM EST reply actions

The Phillies traded him

because they felt four years of Halladay was an upgrade over one year of Lee (it is), and they didn’t want to completely empty their farm system to get him. They were able to improve their ball club over the short term, and while their system lost two stud prospects in Taylor and Drabek, they restocked somewhat. They also saved $8M of Lee’s salary to help pay for Halladay.

Although a Halladay-Lee-Hamels-Happ-Blanton rotation could have been sick.

by Adam Peterson on Dec 16, 2009 11:10 PM EST up reply actions

What's the final tally?

Of prospects given up for Lee initially, plus those for Halladay? In essence, they gave up a lot of prospects for Halladay, far more now than they would’ve even offered last summer.

by Han Joelo on Dec 17, 2009 12:54 AM EST reply actions

In the end...

Philadelphia traded Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp, Lou Marson and Jason Donald to Cleveland for Cliff Lee and Ban Francisco.

Then Philadephia traded Cliff Lee to Seattle for Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies and Juan Ramirez.

So at this point, just considering Lee, they ended up with Francisco, Aumont, Gillies and Ramirez, not to mention a spectacular Cliff Lee down the stretch, I think the Phillies came out on top of the Cliff Lee moves.

For Halladay they Travis D’Arnaud, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor.

In Baseball America’s 2009 rankings of the Philadelphia system (Sickels grades added), the Phillies gave up their #2 (Carrasco: B), #3 (Marson: C+), #4 (Donald: B-), #5 (Drabek: C+), #6 (Taylor: B), #7 (D’Arnaud: B) and #10 (Knapp: B-).

For the Mariners prospects, BA and Sickels have Aumont at #3 (B), Ramirez #5 (B), and Gillies unranked by either BA or Sickels, but noted as the fastest baserunner in the system.

by Adam Peterson on Dec 17, 2009 6:54 AM EST up reply actions

Phils

Should be contenders for a few years which should allow them some time to rebuild their farm system. Do they have the available funds to invest there……..

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by doofus on Dec 17, 2009 11:16 AM EST reply actions